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Items, Stories and Narrative Prompts
How do Item tokens work? Item Tokens and Item Creation Tokens work like purchasing a magical item, with the tiers of how powerful an item can be linked to the size of the token. This is fairly complex however and varies greatly by year, and none of the examples below are set in stone and may change: *'Minor Tokens:' Strictly cosmetic or near-mass produced magical items, like a colour changing hat, quick quotes quills, Remembralls and similar fairly easy to get but still fun items. *'Apprentice Tokens:' More useful items! Stuff like a guitar that will automatically tune itself, a magical musical box, a magic camera, a flask that purifies liquids, an ordinary muggle sword and other things. *'Journeyman Tokens:' Magic two-way mirrors, Freshly forged goblin silver swords, a Deluminator and other similar items. *'Master Tokens:' All items under this that have significant impact on the Model. This will vary depending on the year the Master Token is locked to, but to give you an idea a Fifth Year Master Token could purchase you a nigh-legendary goblin silver sword already imbued with experience, while a Seventh Year Token could purchase the Alkahest and a post-Graduation token could grant you the Philosopher's Stone itself. Now there are many items out there in the wizarding world, so it would naturally be impossible to make a complete compendium of all them. For that reason we find it easier to determine what category an item would fall into, by virtue of its range of impact. This is still being fleshed out, but the general idea is that smaller tokens have an impact on just yourself, an impact that grows with token size to social circle, the school and finally - The entire wizarding world. The latter being a master level item. Functionally, Item Tokens and Item Creation Tokens are the same when it comes to levels of power, but they are separated as Item Creation involves your character going through a longer process to create the item, either on their own or by seeking a craftsman to do it. The only difference is narrative. If an item is meant to be shared in a group, one person would apply for the item, that person would be considered the 'owner.' If the item is to be created by a group, that needs to be outlined in the application for the item. The item 'owner' is free to let others use their item, but they would be the one to both apply and pay for it. How do Story tokens work? Story Tokens are similar to item tokens in that their power varies by both token quality and the year you receive it, but they are capable of doing amazing things. The closest equivalent in the current system is justification adventures, but even those are too small in scope compared to the flexibility of Story Tokens. Because we want people to have the freedom to tell the stories they want, Story Tokens are tools you can use to help shape that story. Like Item Tokens, the range of what you can do depends on the quality of the token and the year you receive it, but they are also one of the most flexible and versatile purchases within the model. For instance Minor Tokens would allow the purchase of (very) small prompts focused around what you want to do with your character. For instance, someone who wants to play a more heroic character could receive a short prompt about an NPC student and how they are being bullied by other students, allowing your character to come in and intervene on their behalf, while a Master Token at Graduate level could allow your character to take over a small country. Yes! For real! Here are some examples based on canon: *'Apprentice:' Taking care of Norbert for Hagrid. *'Journeyman:' Harry and Ron taking the flying car to Hogwarts. *'Master:' Harry and friends invade the Department of Mysteries! To put it simply, if you purchase a Story Token with an idea in mind, that purchase will go to helping you fit your idea into Model Canon, and giving you a bit of support here and there in the form of prompts or a bit of guidance to make it happen. The true breadth of this is difficult to fully express, and while not every idea may be accepted as is, we’ll do our best to make things work. Please note: The purchaser of a Story Token should be the focus of a story, though the story itself can be done with friends and in groups. That said, if a group of friends wants to purchase a bigger story, they will be able to pay together. If this is the case please go to a private discussion where a price for each person will be decided. How do progression powers work? Most progression powers will no longer require further purchases to progress the power, and will just be unlocked automatically over time. There will however be a few exceptions, and this is the current working list of the exceptions: Apscidomancy (Arm pet requires a token) Elemental Magic (Token required for second element) Somniumpartum (Token required for Dreamwalk spell) Blade Magic (Token required for weapon or Soulblade upgrade) There may be more in the future and prices aren't finalized, but generally most powers will not require second purchases and it will be up to you to RP the progression as you see fit. Where do natural powers fit into all of this? The short answer is that they don’t, at least not right now, but we’re currently looking into aligning the natural powers with the goals and ideals that lie behind the tokens system. When it comes to natural powers that tie into learned powers, such as legilimency and learned legilimency, there will no longer be a discount for a natural who wants to invest in the learned as well. We will be able to answer this in detail once we have finished our natural powers deliberations, but for now they will be working as they always have. More information to follow! How do dark magic and special spells work? As of right now it is planned for the majority of Dark Spells and some Special Spells to require an Apprentice Token - if you are learning it before or within the proper year of the spell. Dark or Special spells that are below your current year and dice range, however, will only require a Minor Token to unlock. For instance, someone interested in Obsideo would pay an Apprentice Token if they apply for it in 2nd or 3rd year, but in 4th year+, it will downgrade to simply a Minor Token. There may be exceptions to this however (primarily with Imperio), but as of right now that is still being worked out. If a player were to pay to gain knowledge over a dark spell, or other such knowledge that one would have to pay for, they are able to tell others about it for free. This action should be discussed OOC in advance to make sure that the person being told is okay with their character having this knowledge, and that your character doesn't suffer consequences such as expulsion. Note: This does not mean the second person could learn said dark spell, or do anything with said knowledge. Applications would still need to be filled out, and costs would still need to be paid to use said knowledge or learn a power/ability. If applications are easier, wouldn't that mean people could get seriously stacked when it comes to powers? Yes, and unfortunately there may be times where an application may be denied if we feel one character is absorbing too much power and may become a risk to other people's enjoyment of the Model, but we will work with that individual to help them figure out an alternative or something equally fun they could do. We want to give people the freedom to tell the stories they want to tell, but not at the cost of other people's comfort.